


Sleep Like The Dead

by Morpheus626



Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25046590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: Prompt:  “Guess who only got two hours of sleep? Me, lol, i’m gonna die.“This prompt is a whole ass mood, and I felt like pulling some Ahkmenrah and casually said terror into it as well. Also I made Larry nice for once lol.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	Sleep Like The Dead

“Ugh.” 

“Good evening, sunshine,” Larry said. “You’re late joining us.” 

Ahkmenrah grumbled. “Thank you for the reminder. Are you done talking now?” 

“The sun god certainly hasn’t shine on you, has he?” Jed asked. “You know, we’re all havin’ a good time, if you need to go wake up on the other side of the sarcophagus-” 

“Please, just shut up.” 

“Hey, hey, relax, both of you,” Larry interjected. “What’s the problem, what is…all of this, the moodiness?” 

“I didn’t sleep well,” Ahkmenrah replied, dropping down onto an open chair at the front desk. 

“Yeah but…you don’t sleep, you. Well. You…die and then reanimate, right?” Larry chuckled nervously. 

Ahkmenrah nodded. “Usually. But sometimes it’s different. I know I’m dead, my body has decayed, I just can’t move or do anything about it or really feel rested, you know? I got maybe…two hours of rest? I feel like I might die again, if such a thing would be possible.” 

The room went completely silent. 

“What?” Ahkmenrah smirked. “You wanted to know, now you all know why I am displeased. I might nap now, actually. True sleep would be nice.” 

“That’s…absolutely terrifying, why have you not talked about this before?” Larry asked, horrified. 

He shrugged. “No one ever asked. No one else here is likely to experience it. And judging by the reaction, no one wants to hear about it.” 

“I don’t think it’s that we don’t want to hear,” Teddy said, striding over, a concerned look on his face. “It’s just…well, as Lawrence said, what you described is a living nightmare.” 

Ahkmenrah yawned. “I appreciate that you understand that, but unfortunately that does not resolve the fact that it happens.” 

“Fair. And to be honest, I don’t even know how we’d begin to stop it. That sounds like a horrific loophole in the tablet’s magic and I…have no idea how to fix that. I do have an idea for something else though,” Larry said. “Can you give me five minutes?” 

“I am feeling generous, take ten,” Ahkmenrah replied, pulling his crown off and setting it onto the desk, letting his head thunk down onto it as Larry dashed away. 

“So…what’s it like?” Jed asked softly, sitting on the edge of a desk lamp near Ahkmenrah. 

“What is what like?” 

“…being dead. I mean, I guess I could ask you what being alive is like too, but I feel like I know some version of that thanks to your tablet but…I don’t think it must feel the same. What happens to all of us made out of wax and fluff compared to you,” Jed continued. 

“Normally? Quiet. Like shutting off a light. I don’t usually have any awareness of what’s going on around me, of the museum being open. But when I stay awake during it-” 

Ahkmenrah had lifted his head from the desk to speak, but lowered it to his hands now, rubbing at his face before continuing. 

“Imagine being able to hear and see everything going on around you, but only so much. I think the mummification and decomposition has something to do with muffling it. But consider that; you can hear it all going on around you, but you can’t move. You can’t even so much as try. Your heart should be beating then, but it isn’t, and it feels horribly wrong. And you’d really like to go back to before, to not hearing, not feeling, not being stuck like this because then at least it is a rest, the closest thing you are given to sleep. But you can’t. And then you wake up completely, as I am now, back to feeling a beating heart and being able to move, and you’re supposed to just pretend all of that never happened, and come out and have a good time.” 

Jed stared. “I really wish the flask on my hip wasn’t just plastic, my man. You need a stiff drink. Several, maybe.” 

Ahkmenrah nodded. “That would be nice. I appreciate the sentiment. Perhaps one day we can share a drink together. I will bring you a golden thimble for a goblet.” 

“Think I might have to share that with Octavious. Kind of a lot for me on my own. But I’d like that,” Jed replied. “We should get you a pillow or something, this desk isn’t a spot to sleep-” 

“No, no it isn’t!” Larry strode back into the room, almost hopping on his feet. “C’mon, up, get up. I’ve got a surprise for you.” 

Ahkmenrah’s crown was left behind as Larry dragged him by the hand through the crowd of museum inhabitants, to the employee lounge. 

“Ta da!” 

The couch in the lounge had been covered with multiple quilts, and there was a pillow at one end, with several others on the floor. 

“I’m really tired, Larry, so I’m sorry, but-” 

“A little napping hideaway…place! For you, whatever nights you need it. And, that’s not all,” Larry left him standing in the doorway to retrieve a bag from his locker. “I know this isn’t exactly regal, but, I figured it would make sleeping in here more comfortable; it gets cold, you can get cold, I think?” 

He handed over the contents of the bag: sweatpants, a sweatshirt, warm socks, and another two blankets, thick and soft. 

“Where did you get all of this?” 

“Uh, home. Bought a few things. Had them set aside in case I ever got stuck here in the winter, and then, once I noticed you seemed really out of it the last couple of weeks, and I figured maybe some new, modern things would be a…sort of pick-me-up. Didn’t know about all the other stuff you mentioned tonight but…I mean. This doesn’t solve that, obviously. But maybe a nap at night every now and again would help? I can make sure you get woken up before sunrise, and in the meantime you get some actual, decent rest,” Larry replied. 

Ahkmenrah peered at the floor. “The pillows down there?” 

“This couch is not nearly as big as it looks, and the floor hurts. I know that from experience so I figured I would start trying to make it a softer landing, for you and for me, whichever one of us has the couch at that moment. I know it isn’t much, but-” 

Ahkmenrah interrupted him with a hug. “Thank you.” 

“Yeah, of course. You good?” 

“Yes,” Ahkmenrah replied, and they both ignored the tears he wiped away as he let go of Larry and went to the couch. 

“Good. Get in those clothes, get comfortable, and get some sleep. I’ll wake you up before it’s time to head back to your exhibit, make sure we get you dressed all regally again.” 

Ahkmenrah’s eager nod was wonderful to see, but even better was checking on him with Teddy half an hour later. He was sprawled on the couch in the sweats and socks, curly hair mussed, face smashed against the pillow, looking for all the world like a college student passed out after a night of studying. 

“How long do you think that’s been happening to him?” Larry asked as they walked away again, to let Ahkmenrah enjoy the rest of his nap. “The being awake and aware while he’s dead thing, I mean?” 

“Probably much longer than we’d want to know,” Teddy replied. “But I think it will help greatly, to have this keep happening.” 

“This?” 

“The kindness. Letting him step back from being royalty, and just being…him. Letting him talk openly with us, giving him moments away like this, with a safe space for him to rest. There is much more to him than his lineage and the gilded items that accompany it, and I think we would do well to seek that out even more than we have in the past.” 

The list they came up with by the time they needed to wake Ahkmenrah wasn’t as long as either of them wanted, but it was full of things he might like. Larry might have asked him about some of them, but that wasn’t really possible. 

“Pick up your feet, bud. You’ll get to go back to sleep in a few minutes, I promise,” Larry said as he led Ahkmenrah, still half-asleep and haphazardly dressed again in his regalia, shuffling down the hall to his exhibit. 

Ahkmenrah grumbled something, but he couldn’t catch it as a yawn quickly followed it. 

“We can talk tomorrow night. You get comfortable, and…hopefully that thing won’t happen again,” Larry said as he watched Ahkmenrah settle into his sarcophagus. 

There was a hint of fear in Ahkmenrah’s eyes that made it almost impossible to close the lid, though Larry knew he had to. But everything in him wanted to leave it open, at least until sunrise hit and Ahkmenrah was mummified again. The terror at the idea of being in there, alone, unsure if the magic of the tablet would fully leave him and let him rest, gave Larry shivers as he slid the lid over Ahkmenrah and left the exhibit. 

Maybe he couldn’t prevent it from happening again, but he could at least give Ahkmenrah something comfortable and good to look forward to each night. From naps on the lounge couch, to the list of ideas he and Teddy had. It wasn’t much, but it was something.


End file.
